KineticSeoul This was like a Japanese version of "Revolutionary Road" for me with it's portrayal of a downfall of a family, except "Revolutionary Road" is set in the 1950's while this is set in present time but go through similar crisis. And this film isn't for everyone, cause just about every character in this film isn't really likable and just way too normal and throughout most of the film go through realistic normal life. This film is basically about how just about some everyday people go through a difficult journey while wishing they can start all over. For those wanting to watch a movie to get away from real life for a few hours, should pass on this one cause the portrayal of real life and the struggles can be a bit depressing while the problem is pretty common amongst other people and not just the Sasaki family. Some people will just enjoy this more than others.7.5/10

arthera09 I am going to say right off the bat that I am only give this an 8 is because I probably never watch this again and I do not think I ever really need to see it again. I would recommend to my movie fan friends, but not much more than that and I would only recommend if they feel like a Japanese movie about a modern Japanese family in Tokyo. I thought it was a fantastic film and there was plenty that I felt was just absolutely perfect. The mother was my favorite character and the scene was she asks someone to pull her up was beautiful and then when she pulled herself up from her nightmare later in the movie was the perfect contrasting moment. I loved her zombie walk at the end even though it was a little over the top. I think my favorite thing about the movie was how it never showed the glitzy upbeat part of Tokyo and showed what a family growing up and living there sees. For me some of the scenes were extremely personal for me and one scene in particular could have been a exact shot of our family life and my interactions with my own father. Tokyo really is its own character here and not the Tokyo I was expecting. I loved some of the set up shots at the beginning that gave me the sense of what the city was like for these people. I love the timing on the train when it passed by the house. The kid was surprisingly good and was completely convincing for me. I guess I related to that character to a lot so it was easy for me to see him as a complete character. For the last scene which of course is slightly cliché and gives the movie a nice and warm feeling that my mom loved, but my favorite part of that scene was watching the father tear up. He never actually cries, but you see he really has a moment there. There were multiple scenes that made me smile as I watched them because they were really well done. The director has a future and I may keep an eye on him.

MCDRLx Parting the veil on a Japanese household teetering on the verge of collapse, "Tokyo Sonata" may be director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's most conventional work-if conventional is the right word for a film that explores the contemporary family dynamic with such brooding fortitude. The renowned Japanese horror filmmaker has created a startlingly candid portrait of domestic life in "Tokyo Sonata," a film that, by evoking the waking nightmares of repressed souls, brims with a terror of its own accord.Businessman Ryuhei Sasaki, victimized by economic downsizing after his company terminates his job, chooses to hide his predicament from his family by roaming the streets of Tokyo during daytime. His wife Megumi juggles housewife duties and a tenuous relationship with her oldest son Takashi, whose desire to break away from tradition echoes the detachment of Japanese youth in a society wreathed in materialism. The youngest member of the family, Kenji, rebels against authority yet displays sensitivity beyond his age when he discovers an innate passion for piano.Juxtaposing tight interior shots of living rooms with panoramic compositions of urban sprawl, Kurosawa imbues the film with something of an otherworldly presence-a haunting, dreamlike aura that pervades "Tokyo Sonata" as its dysfunctional family continues to crumble inwardly. Conversations dissipate; lies build on previous lies; a mother's love is torn between duty and empathy. Humiliated by his jobless situation yet determined to maintain his patriarchal status, Ryuhei physically abuses Kenji for secretly taking piano lessons after browbeating Megumi for allowing Takashi to join the military. Recession-plagued Tokyo, already a landscape of existential lament, gradually takes a backseat to familial destruction.The film's blend of domestic drama and social commentary is both poignant and timely. Office workers like Ryuhei and his colleagues are portrayed as ironic victims of the Japanese male dynamic, driven by their obligations to home and work yet completely unwilling to compromise after hitting rock bottom. In displaying the failure of authority in a culture that revolves around it, Kurosawa draws poignant contrasts. "We're like a slowly sinking ship," grieves an unemployed friend of Ryuhei. "The lifeboats are gone, the water's up to our mouths." Like a vessel slowly sliding into oblivion, ideals built around workplaces and households slowly disintegrate, replaced by coldness and bitter angst.Tellingly, "Tokyo Sonata" eventually mirrors these systematic collapses by venturing into surreal territory. In one of the film's most affecting sequences, an afternoon nap turns into a chilling seance when Takashi returns home from the war, saying to his mother, "I killed so many people." Megumi's troubled psyche finally begins to eat away at her maternal strength. When a wayward burglar abducts her, and Ryuhei and Kenji encounter catastrophic situations, the film's quiet buildup escalates into irreversible mayhem.When does it end, and where does it begin? The mother's catharsis, manifested in a sequence of lasting power, injects rays of hope into an otherwise miserable flurry of dead ends. The final movement of "Tokyo Sonata," uneven as it is compared to its predecessors, completes the cycle of fall and salvation with admirable finality. Powerfully acted and impeccably orchestrated, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Tokyo Sonata" is a masterful exercise in paradoxes: at one and the same time comical and melancholy, despairing and exultant, nihilistic and regenerative.

8thSin A story about problems a typical dysfunctional family in Japan would have. The father loses job, but wants to stay as the authoritative figure in the household, tired and bored wife, son who joins the army to protect peace, and the younger son wants to learn piano, but couldn't because parents are against it.This film had a really nice flow. For a Japanese movie, it was very fast-paced and a lot happened. Direction was top-notch, and there were many funny and touching scenes. Music on this film is an unorthodox one that reminded me of another Japanese movie. I can't recall the title, but possibly "Unagi" (1997) or "Baka no Hakobune" (2003). The overwhelming contrast in the soundtrack and the piano performance in the end worked very well.The movie contains many clichés, but it turned out to be an unique and original piece with an excellent ending and message. A wonderful piece of true Japanese film.